1. Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to a semiconductor device.
2. Discussion of the Background
A semiconductor device including at least one arm series circuit having an upper arm and a lower arm connected to the upper arm in series, each of the upper arm and the lower arm including a switching element and a diode connected in anti-parallel to the switching element (i.e., an anti-parallel diode) has been developed. Examples of such a semiconductor device include an inverter and a converter (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-181351).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-181351 describes an inverter module of a power conversion apparatus capable of reducing conducted noise and radiation noise by reducing a common mode current (refer to, in particular, Abstract and a paragraph [0010]). In order to reduce conducted noise and radiation noise, an inverter module 25a of the power conversion apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-181351 includes a package including a single-phase (or multi-phase) switching arm series circuit having an upper arm 5 and a lower arm 6, each including a switching element and an anti-parallel diode, connected to each other in series. The inverter module 25a has a cooling copper base 1 disposed on the outer side of the package. The area of a copper pattern 4 on which the lower arm 6 of the switching arm series circuit is formed is smaller than the area of a copper pattern 3 on which the upper arm 5 of the switching arm series circuit is formed (refer to Abstract).